00:00So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you.
00:14Turn the volume up!
00:18Zoran Mamdani has been elected as New York City's first Muslim and youngest mayor.
00:22The 34-year-old Democrat, born in Uganda to Indian parents,
00:26defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa
00:31in one of the most closely watched local elections in the country.
00:36This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve,
00:42rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt.
00:48His victory video on social media was brief yet symbolic.
00:52A subway train arriving at City Hall with a voice announcing,
00:55The next and last stop is City Hall.
00:59The clip faded to text reading, Zoran for New York City.
01:04But hours before polls opened, President Donald Trump had issued a striking warning
01:09threatening to pull federal funds if Mamdani won.
01:14In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump wrote,
01:17If communist candidate Zoran Mamdani wins the election for mayor of New York City,
01:22it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing federal funds other than the very minimum as required.
01:30He called Mamdani a communist and said the city under him would be a complete and total economic and social disaster.
01:36Speaking on CBS's 60 Minutes, Trump said it would be hard to give a lot of money to New York if a communist is running it.
01:53Now, Mamdani has won and will be assuming mayor's office on 1st January 2026.
01:58But before all of this, he has already told Trump to turn the volume up
02:03because he is coming after the bad landlord and billionaires.
02:07So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching,
02:12I have four words for you.
02:17Turn the volume up!
02:19Turn the volume up!
02:21We will hold bad landlords to account
02:44because the Donald Trumps of our city
02:47have grown far too comfortable
02:49taking advantage of their tenants.
02:51Turn the volume up!
02:59Within a few seconds, after Mamdani's warning,
03:01Trump posted on Truth Social and said,
03:04And so it begins!
03:06All letters in bold.
03:14Federal taxpayer dollars flow into nearly every part of New York City
03:18from food assistance and housing programs to infrastructure in hospitals.
03:24According to the New York State Comptroller,
03:25the city's 2026 operating budget includes over $7 billion in federal funds
03:31across more than 20 agencies.
03:33That's roughly 6.4% of total spending, touching everything from the NYPD to the City University of New York.
03:40A budget expert, Anna Champany, said even small cuts could be substantial for city agencies and the people they serve.
03:52Departments most reliant on federal dollars include housing, children's services and health.
03:55Departments most reliant on federal dollars include housing, children's services and health.
04:02Departments most reliant on federal dollars include housing, children's services and health.
04:04The Department of Housing Preservation and Development, for instance, depends on federal funding for half its 2026 budget.
04:10half its 2026 budget, much of it used for rental assistance through the Section 8 program.
04:18Rachel Fee of the New York Housing Conference warns,
04:23A million New Yorkers rely on federal housing programs to pay their rent. Without this assistance,
04:29low-income renters would face eviction.
04:38The city's Child Welfare Agency also gets nearly 40% of its funding from Washington,
04:43primarily to support child care services.
04:52Legally, Trump's threat faces steep constitutional limits.
04:56Under the US Constitution, it's Congress, not the President, that controls how federal
05:01money is allocated.
05:03Article 1, Section 9 says,
05:05No money shall be drawn, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.
05:11The 1974 Impoundment Control Act, passed after then, President Richard Nixon tried to withhold
05:17approved funds, prevents presidents from unilaterally freezing federal spending.
05:22They can delay funds for up to 45 days, but only with congressional approval.
05:29And with Republicans controlling both chambers, 53 seats in the Senate and 220 in the House,
05:35political calculations could complicate any attempt to punish New York without pushback.
05:43New York has already faced funding blocks this year.
05:46The Trump administration has withheld $12 million in counter-terrorism grants and terminated several
05:52clean energy awards and infrastructure projects, including the Hudson Gateway Tunnel.
06:00City Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned in April that the cumulative impact of federal funding
06:05pauses could reach $400 million in 2025 and $135 million in 2026 or even higher.
06:16Will Trump's threats become real?
06:19And will New York's first Muslim mayor face a financial battle as his first test in office?
06:24New Yorker's fight is expected to begin soon.
06:28Whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many black women
06:38that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of
06:45groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall, your struggle is ours
06:54too.
07:24The last time I spoke at a Sunrise press conference was on the morning of June 24th,
07:32when our movement felt ascendant, but certainly not inevitable.
07:37That morning in Astoria, there were few in this city who dared to imagine that we could win
07:43and what it would mean for a city that has, for too long, served only the wealthy and the powerful,
07:51at the expense of those.
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